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And blunt the sense, and fit it for a skull
Of solid proof, impenetrably dull:

Instant, when dipt, away they wing their flight,
Where Brown and Mears unbar the gates of light,
Demand new bodies, and in calf's array
Rush to the world, impatient for the day.
Millions and millions on these banks he views,
Thick as the stars of night, or morning dews,
As thick as bees o'er vernal blossoms fly,
As thick as eggs at Ward in pillory.

Wond'ring he gaz'd: when, lo; a sage appears,
By his broad shoulders known, and length of ears,
Known by the band and suit which Settle wore
(His only suit) for twice three years before:
All as the vest appear'd the wearer's frame,
Old in new state, another yet the same.

REMARKS.

25

30

34

40

v. 28. --Browne and Mears.] Booksellers, printers for any body.---The allegory of the souls of the dull coming forth in the form of books dressed in calf's leather, and being let abroad in vast numbers by booksellers, is sufficiently intelligible.

v. 34.---Ward in pillory. John Ward, of Hackney, Esq. member of parliament, being convicted of forgery, was first expelled the House, and then sentenced to the pillory, on the 17th of February, 1727.

IMITATIONS.

v. 28.-----unbar thy gates of light.] An hemistich of Milton.

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v. 31,32. Millions and Millions---Thick as the stars, &c.] Quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo "Lapsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab alto Quam multae glomerantur aves,

66

&c.

Virg. Æn. VI.

Bland and familiar, as in life, begun
Thus the great Father to the greater Son:

Oh! born to see what none can see awake!
Behold the wonders of th' oblivious lake!

Thou, yet unborn, has touch'd this sacred shore;
The hand of Bavius drench'd thee o'er and o'er.
But blind to former as to future fate,
What mortal knows his pre-existent state?
Who knows how long thy transmigrating soul
Might from Boeotian to Boeotian roll?

How many Dutchmen she vouchsaf'd to thrid ?
How many stages through old monks she rid?
And all who since, in wild benighted days,
Mix'd the owl's ivy with the poet's bays.
As man's meanders to the vital spring

Roll all their tides, then back their circles bring;
Or whirligigs, twirl'd round by skilful swain,
Suck the thread in, then yield it out again:
All nonsense thus, of old or modern date,
Shall in thee centre, from thee circulate.
For thus our Queen unfolds to vision true
Thy mental eye, for thou hast much to view:

IMITATIONS.

v. 54. Mix'd the owl's ivy with the poet's bays.] "Sine tempore circum

"Inter victrices hederam tibi serpere lauros."

45

50

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Virg. Ecl. viii. .61, 62. For this our Queen unfolds to vision true Thy mental eye, for thou hast much to view.]

This has a resemblance to that passage in Milton, Book XI. where the angel

"To noble sights from Adam's eye removed "The film; then purg'd with euphrasie and rue "The visual nerve---For be bad much to see."

Old scenes of glory, times long cast behind,
Shall, first recall'd, rush forward to thy mind:
Then stretch thy sight o'er all her rising reign,
And let the past and future fire thy brain.

Ascend this hill, whose cloudy point commands
Her boundless empire over seas and lands.
See, round the poles where keener spangles shine,
Where spices smoke beneath the burning line,
(Earth's wide extremes) her sable flag display'd,
And all the nations cover'd in her shade!

Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the Sun And orient Science their bright course begun: One godlike monarch all that pride confounds, He, whose long wall the wandring Tartar bounds; Heav'ns! what a pile! whole ages perish there, And one bright blaze turns learning into air.

Thence to the South extend thy gladden'd eyes;
Their rival flames with equal glory rise;

From shelves to shelves see greedy Vulcan roll,
And lick up all their physic of the soul.

VARIATIONS.

v. 73. In the former edit.

65

70

75.

Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the Sun -
And orient Science at a birth begun.

But as this was thought to contradict that line of the introduction,

In eldest times, e'er mortals writ or read,

which supposes the sun and science did not set out toge ther, it was altered to their bright course begun. But this slip, as usual, escaped the gentlemen of the Dunciad.

IMITATIONS.

There is a general allusion in what follows to that whole episode.

How little, mark! that portion of the ball,
Where, faint at best, the beams of Science fall:
Soon as they dawn, from hyperborean skies
Embody'd dark, what clouds of Vandals rise!
Lo! where Mæotis sleeps, and hardly flows
The freezing Tanais through a waste of snows,
The North by myriads pours her mighty sons,
Great nurse of Goths, of Alans, and of Huns!
See Alaric's stern port! the martial frame
Of Genseric! and Attila's dread name!
See the bold Ostrogoths on Latium fall;
See the fierce Visigoths on Spain and Gaul!
See where the morning gilds the palmy shore
(The soil that arts and infant letters bore)
His conqu❜ring tribes the Arabian prophet draws,
And saving Ignorance enthrones by laws.
See Christians, Jews, one heavy sabbath keep,
And all the Western world believe and sleep.

Lo! Rome herself, proud mistress now no more
Of arts, but thund'ring against Heathen lore;
Her gray-hair'd synods damning books unread,
And Bacon trembling for his brazen head.
Padua, with sighs, beholds her Livy burn,
And ev'n th' Antipodes Vigilius mourn.

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90

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See the Cirque falls, th' unpillar'd temple nods,

Streets pay'd with heroes, Tyber choak'd with gods;

Till Peter's keys some christened Jove adorn,
And Pan to Mosés lends his Pagan horn;

110

See graceful Venus to a virgin turn'd,
Or Phidias broken, and Apelles burn'd.

113

Behold yon' isle, by palmers, pilgrims trod,
Men bearded, bald, cowl'd, uncowl'd, shed, unshod,
Peel'd, patch'd, and pyebald, linsey-woolsey brothers,
Grave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless others.
That once was Britain---Happy! had she seen
No fiercer sons, had Easter never been.
In peace great goddess ever be ador'd;

How keen the war, if Dulness draw the sword!
Thus visit not thy own! on this bless'd age
Oh spread thy influence, but restrain thy rage.
And see, my Son! the hour is on its way

120

That lifts our goddess to imperial sway,

This fav'rite isle, long sever'd from her reign,

125

Dove-like, she gathers to her wings again.

Now look through Fate! behold the scene she draws! What aids, what armies, to assert her cause!

See all her progeny, illustrious sight!

Behold, and coun them, as they rise to light.

130

As Berecynthia, while her offspring vie
In homage to the mother of the sky,

IMITATIONS.

v. 117, 118. Happy!---bad Easter never been.] "Et fortunatam, si nunquam armenta fuissent."

v. 127, 129. Now look through Fate! See all her progeny, &c.]

Virg. Ecl. vi.

"Nuncage, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur "Gloria, qui maneant, Itala de gente nepotes,

"Illustres animas, nostrumque in nomen ituras.

"Expediam."

Virg. Æn. VI.

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